What is the story about?
What
the heck just happened to the San Francisco 49ers in Seattle?
They went into Lumen Field, survived the typical Seahawks onslaught that gave them the lead, and then came back in the fourth quarter to win and stay atop the NFC West.
There was a lot happening in Sunday's game with a ton of momentum swings. We kept track of everything with our notebook during the game. Here are our quarter-by-quarter notes:
First quarter
- Jordan James is returning the opening kick, not Deebo Samuel. It makes sense with their injuries at wide receiver that they'd look to limit Samuel's touches elsewhere.
- A drop from George Kittle on third down. Brutal. That's the kind of mistake that swings close games.
- Heck of a play by Renardo Green to intercept Sam Darnold on a third-and-10. He was all over Jaxon Smith-Njigba. He couldn't have played that much better. Green is having an excellent third season.
- Another near interception for Purdy. It looked like he had a miscommunication with Kittle on second-and-7 and it almost wound up in a giveaway. Whew.
- It's clear the Seattle pass rush is bothering Purdy, but he's doing well to navigate the pocket while keeping his eyes downfield. He scrambled away from pressure on a third-and-7 and found Mike Evans at the 2 for a first down. He hit Evans one play later for a touchdown.
- Nice job by the 49ers defense getting another stop. Good open field tackle by Dre Greenlaw on third down.
- Whoops. Jacob Cowing fumbled it right back to the Seahawks. That's two game-altering mistakes so far by the 49ers, but this one is pretty dramatically worse than Kittle's drop on the first drive. Cowing's muffed punt gave Seattle a first down at the 49ers' 24. It's inexplicable that he even tried fielding it with only one Seahawk near him and the 49ers trying to maintain momentum.
- Gracen Halton is a problem. Sweet run stop by him on a second-and-5 in the red zone to bring up a third-and-5.
- Easy touchdown for Seattle makes it 7-7. RB Emmanuel Wilson walked in for a score from two yards out. Overall the 49ers have done a nice job stopping the run. Not so much on that first-and-goal run.
- Woof. Purdy missed Evans badly twice en route to a three-and-out after the touchdown.
- The 49ers run defense is doing a really nice job so far in this one.
- Sebastian Valdez sack, although that one looked to be more on the quarterback than anything. Valdez got some decent push, but Darnold just never saw the big defensive tackle. Good work by the second-year undrafted free agent.
- Nice pitch-and-catch from Purdy to Deebo Samuel on a slant. Purdy was two-for-seven to start. That's a nice, confident throw to hit Samuel on the run. His ability to continue making throws after slow starts is one of his best qualities.
- Purdy took a sack. His first of the year. Connor Colby got smoked on a pass rush rep from defensive tackle Byron Murphy.
- Huge play to Smith-Njigba. That went for 38 yards. Deommodore Lenoir got dusted and Ji'Ayir Brown was late coming over to help. Yikes!
- End of first quarter score: 49ers 7, Seahawks 7
Second quarter
- Brown dropped an interception. If he's not coming up with takeaways like that it's unclear why he stays on the field when the 49ers safeties are healthy.
- MALIK MUSTAPHA MY GOODNESS.
- Nice run on second-and-3 from Christian McCaffrey. He looked to be stopped short but he kept his legs churning and picked up six.
- Nice catch by Cowing on a third-and-5 for nine yards. He had a defensive back looming and stuck with a good, strong catch. The 49ers blitz pickup was good as well.
- Yikes. Colby got smoked by Murphy on another pass rush to put the 49ers in a second-and-18 after the first down. It also pushed them out of field goal range.
- Fred Warner is absolutely unreal. Another punchout on the first Seattle offensive play after the 49ers punted again. Malik Mustapha recovered and that's the kind of play the 49ers needed. They've made a couple mistakes on offense and special teams, but their defense for the second week in a row is keeping them in it.
- One play later McCaffrey is in the end zone. He's at 33 yards and a touchdown on five carries. The 49ers are having some success running, they just need to get into spots where they can run it. That means staying out of second and third and long.
- Can't say enough about how well Jaden Dugger is playing. He's making plays against the run, as a pass rusher and on screens.
- Dre Greenlaw got ejected for headbutting a Seahawk on the sideline after hitting Sam Darnold late out of bounds. There's some give-and-take with the violent style Greenlaw plays with, but the headbutt after the play is as bad as it gets. That's not helpful and now the 49ers are down one of their best defenders.
- Halton's first career sack comes after a Seattle first down got them into the red zone. Good win on the edge for the rookie. That's three sacks for San Francisco.
- Osa Odighizuwa followed that up with the 49ers fourth sack. This is a sensational first-half performance for the 49ers defense.
- Jordan James looks good as a kick returner. His return got the 49ers to their own 39. He broke a couple of tackles and carried a couple of tacklers with him for extra yards.
- Kyle Shanahan has the ultimate faith in Purdy. He dialed up a play action shot to Evans on first down after the Seattle field goal. Evans made the grab at the Seattle 38 for 23 yards. That he's gutting through two broken ribs is insane.
- Brutal. A false start by Connor Colby put the 49ers behind the sticks. Then on second-and-14 Dominick Puni was whistled for a hold on a screen to Deebo Samuel that got the 49ers into field goal range. The penalty takes them back out.
- HAHAHAHA WHAT?! Seattle tried running a play from inside their own 5 with 18 seconds left in the half. The result was a fumble and recovery in the end zone by Halton for a touchdown to give San Francisco a 21-13 lead at the half. Halton finished the half with a sack, two tackles for loss, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery for a TD. What a first 30 minutes for the rookie.
- Halftime score: 49ers 21, Seahawks 13
Third quarter
- Another Green interception. This is just an outstanding game from the 49ers defense.
- Uh oh. Three plays for the 49ers offense. They gained only five yards and settled for an Eddy Pineiro 52-yard field goal try that he missed badly. Keep an eye on Pineiro who hasn't been as steady this season as he was last year.
- Bend, don't break from the 49ers again after the missed field goal. Seattle started getting the run game going a little bit on that drive. Nice run stop by Keion White on a first-and-10 to put Seattle in a second-and-12 helped stall the drive.
- Ouch. Purdy intercepted. He got baited into that with a blitz coming from his right. He planted his foot and threw left where cornerback Nehemiah Pritchett was waiting to intercept it.
- Seattle scored three plays later. This one feels over.
- Now a Samuel fumble that Seattle recovered, and Samuel is hurt. It's hard to figure out a way this could be getting further off the rails for San Francisco.
- Samuel out with a hamstring injury. The 49ers defense has done a really good job all things considered. They held Seattle to a field goal to keep the deficit a manageable five points.
- End of third quarter score: Seahawks 26, 49ers 21
Fourth quarter
- Mike Evans. That's it. That's the note. He's singlehandedly bailing out the 49ers offense, particularly with a deep reception after an absurd intentional grounding call on Purdy.
- Evans caught all four targets for 75 yards on the 74-yard offensive series. That's a good example of how vital Evans was on the series. He didn't get the touchdown, though. That went to Brandin Cooks who committed two penalties on the drive. Purdy did well to avoid pressure and find the veteran receiver in the back of the end zone. Evans caught the two-point conversion.
- More good work from the 49ers defense to keep Seattle to a game-tying field goal. Keion White had a nice run stop on the edge, then sealed the drive with a third-down sack. Just a really good game overall from the 49ers defensive line.
- Third-and-1 at the Seattle 24 and the 49ers hand it to Kaelon Black for a loss of a yard. He had a nice 11-yard carry earlier in the drive, but in that gotta-have-it spot it has to be a sneak to Purdy or a give to McCaffrey, and it certainly can't be a play where Brayden Willis is the lead blocker.
- Oh my goodness they did it. Upton Stout whiffed a tackle on fourth-and-10, but Malik Mustapha flew in to stop Cooper Kupp just short of a first down on Seattle's final drive. Mustapha wasn't perfect Sunday, but he showed his value in the 49ers' secondary with a handful of big hits and a timely tackle to close it. The 49ers scored 32 points and gave up 29, but their defense is the story. That unit was very good.
- Final score: 49ers 32, Seahawks 29
This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: 49ers score: Notes and observations from incredible San Francisco win
